


Freshly Brewed

by Patomac



Series: Writer's Month 2020 [11]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Coffee Shops, Gen, Science Fiction, Space Flight, Space Pirates, Space Stations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:15:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25964965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Patomac/pseuds/Patomac
Summary: Callie visits Arkanis and encounters real coffee for the first time.
Series: Writer's Month 2020 [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1862173
Kudos: 2
Collections: Writer's Month 2020





	Freshly Brewed

**Author's Note:**

> For Writer's Month Day 15: Coffee Shop AU
> 
> (minus the AU)

The first thing I noticed when I stepped through the airlock was the smell. Rich and bitter, warm and heavy. Warm as soil baking in the sun.

Olethe smelled it too. “Is that coffee?” she asked before practically barreling me over.

“Hey!” I yelled after her.

Behind me, Korr chuckled. She clapped a heavy hand on my shoulder. “Don’t take it personally. No one gets between Olethe and her brew.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Why does it smell so strong? The coffee we make doesn’t smell like that.”

“The coffee we make has already been dehydrated and powdered,” Korr said. “This is the real stuff.”

At my confused expression, she smiled. “Come on,” she said. “I’ll show you.”

* * *

We made our way along the wide corridors of the space station at a leisurely place. Away from the docking zone, the floor tiles were shiny grey, and the stainless steel of the walls gleamed. Shops opened on either side of the hallway, selling everything from datachips to clothing to Sarashi souvenirs. A flashing holo in a shop window caught my eye, and I stopped dead in my tracks. Transfixed.

Korr grabbed my elbow, gently steering me away. “None of that now.”

“That’s the latest tech!” I said. “We could get a new engine for our nav system.”

“And we’d have to sell half the ship to afford it,” Korr said. “Take a look around. What do you see?”

I swiveled my head, studying the busy corridor around us. The station was in the middle of its day cycle, and hundreds of patrons thronged the long ring that comprised its central concourse. A panoply of clothing and hair styles made visual chaos of the station, though no one was rushing or pushing or even shouting. They were all perfectly composed, out for a day of shopping on this system’s premier transport hub.

I squinted at them more carefully. More than a few of them had the peculiar bounce step of the long-term planet bound. A wide array of metals adorned wrists and necks and hair. Heavy bags dangled from wrists, swaying in the low gravity.

Whatever Korr was trying to show me, I couldn’t see it. “I see people,” I said. “Mothers and daughters. Families. Etc.”

“You see an upscale shopping station,” Korr said. “People come from all around this system to shop here, and it’s not cheap if you started out on a planet.”

“So everyone here is rich?”

“Everyone who’s not crew,” Korr said. “Can you see it now?”

It took me a minute, but eventually, I did. Long-haul space crews looked the same everywhere: dingy clothing that had been washed half a dozen times. Hair cut or tied back to avoid getting a mouthful in case of a gravity failure. An easy loping stride that took full advantage of the low gravity to move faster and more securely through the halls.

Once I spotted them, I saw them everywhere. Mostly in the middle of halls, moving quickly to somewhere or just walking to stretch out their legs. The shoppers stuck near the windows, browsing, but the crew mostly paced.

I raised an eyebrow at Korr. “Okay, so they’re not shopping. That doesn’t necessarily mean anything.”

Korr only sighed. “You’ll see.”

* * *

We spotted Olethe outside a window tucked between two shops. She was third in line behind a tall woman in Ataxii robes and a short man in a business suit that would have fit right in on a historical drama vid.

Olethe was bouncing on her toes when we sidled up to her. “This is worth knocking your crewmate over for?” I said, eyeing the little window with distrust.

Olethe made a slashing motion with her wrist. “This is supposed to be the best coffee you can get without actually going to a planet,” she said. “They actually import the beans from the surface.”

“Coffee is made from beans?”

Olethe made a disgusted face. “Honestly, Callie. Sound a little less like a rat, will you?”

I rolled my eyes, but I let the remark pass.

The woman at the front of the line got her coffee and moved off to one of the nearby benches to savor it. The man stepped up to the register, and over his head I managed to catch my first glimpse of the prices.

My eyes nearly bugged out of my head. “Holy Hades, that’s a month’s wage!”

“Told you so,” Korr said.

“Ugh,” Olethe said. “Can you two stop being so plebian, please? Not only do they bring the beans up and grind them here, but they brew them with spring water from the nearest planet. It’s never been recirculated. Not once!”

I rolled my eyes even harder this time. “You’re such a snob.”

She lifted her chin with a sniff. “I have a taste for the finer things in life.”

Korr snorted. “That’s why you’re working on a pirate ship instead of a respectable nav operation.”

Olethe glared at her.

The man finished, and she stepped up to the window. The smell of the coffee was even stronger here. Richer, somehow. Like it was something you could eat rather than just drink.

I cast a skeptical glance at Korr. “It can’t be that good, can it?”

She shrugged. “I’ve spent most of my life drinking the powdered stuff. I had the real thing on Saavaros a few years back. It didn’t taste right.”

I glanced at the shop. At the egregious prices they’d displayed on their hoverboard.

“Next time we go to Saavaros?” I asked Korr.

She grinned. “You bet.”


End file.
